Is there any work for psych nurses?

Orca, ADN, ASN, RN · May 14, 2010

From your statement I wonder if you should go into nursing. In order to get through school, you have to train in a number of different things, most involving working with medical patients in hospitals. Specialization comes later.

I worked in psychiatric nursing for about seven years, with adolescent/child, adult, chemical dependency and geriatric populations. Maybe your makeup is different, but I found geriatrics to be the most frustrating and least rewarding group to work with. The primary reason is that I could do little other than keep them from hurting themselves or others, and keep them out of dangerous areas and other patients' rooms - and that was a constant battle. I felt more like a traffic cop than a nurse. The last unit I worked on also mixed geriatric patients with more conventional psychiatric problems (such as depression and anxiety disorders) with Alzheimer's patients. It was not a good mix. It's difficult for someone with depression to recover on a unit where a dementia patient who believes that she is her mother keeps wandering into the room and taking her belongings, insisting that the more oriented patient has stolen them.

Kat23_23 · May 14, 2010

Im not sure where you are from but in my area there is a psychiatric nursing program offered that is separate from the regular nursing program. In this case you only learn things in the field of psyciatric nursing, as well as when you are doing your practicums. There is basic nursing skills you will need to know how to do such as vital signs, CPR, drawing blood, catheterizations and ennemas ( I know gross!) since these things may be applicable when dealing with some psych patients.

lucianne · May 15, 2010

In the U.S. you must complete a general nursing degree covering all areas of nursing. I believe other countries may do things differently.

lucianne · May 15, 2010

Anise, in my opinion there should be a growing demand for nurses who are willing to work geropsych. However, you should realize that there is a great deal of "other" nursing involved in working with all psychiatric patients, but especially the geriatric population and you must be willing to do that as well. You state that you have "no business trying to do anything else related to nursing." If it is fear that you won't be competent that is holding you back--we all feel that way when we start nursing school and again when we start working. You will have to deal the physical problems of your patients as well as the psychological ones.

elkpark · May 16, 2010

In my experience (25 years in psych nursing), gero psych has even more physical comorbidity than other subspecialties within psych, and working in gero psych involves plenty of med-surg-type nursing skills and knowledge. (In my limited experience in working gero psych, I spent much more time feeding people and changing diapers than doing anything that resembled "real" psych nursing!)

If someone is "absolutely only" interested in psych nursing and not in medical-type nursing, gero would be a poor choice, IMHO.

aura_of_laura · May 21, 2010

There is plenty of demand for psych nurses, and with a background in social work, you'll be even more desirable!

Geriatrics is a booming field, and will continue to grow as the population ages. However, gero-psych requires strength in medical-surgical areas, too - elkpark hit the nail on the head. Alzheimers care is completely different from "regular psych" nursing, because the disease progression can really only get worse.